Synopsis: After 10 years in prison, an ex-con (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) sets out to avenge his brother's death after they were double-crossed during a heist years ago. During his campaign, however, he's tracked by a veteran cop (Billy Bob Thornton) and an egocentric hit man.It's been since "Doom" in 2005 that The Rock has been in what I'd call an action flick. He's been family movies, acted like a tooth fairy, worn a tu-tu and been a straight man to Steve Carrell. Some with good results, some with bad... but it's definitely good to see Dwayne Johnson back in full-throttle action mode.
At least I thought it would be "full-throttle"... it's more "half-throttle" maybe. There's some action and violence for sure, but not a huge amount by any means. The movie tries to develope 3 big, fairly complex characters throughout, but I'm not sure it really developed any of the 3 enough. I should say they all could be fairly complex, but end up sort of one-dimensional. I understand that though, as you can't have something labeled as an action flick running too long. They do enough character development for the 3 characters though and leave rest up to your imagination. Billy Bob Thorton and Oliver Jackson-Cohen are both excellent, but The Rock was really just asked to be The Rock more than do any real acting. That subtracts a bit.
It feels like an action/revenge movie right out of the 70s, complete with all the stereotypical characters and formula, and I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. It's got that gritty feel to it and the direction is sort of frenetic at times. It gives the film a nice edge and ups the intensity and viciousness.
You'll get your very tyipcal "twist" and there's some pretty heavy-handed, dumbed down morality about redemption and forgiveness at play as well here (which feels almost like a parody at times), but I think in the end what I'll take home from it is all the ass-kickings. And that's what I missed from The Rock anyway.
7/10
